Other Fan Fiction ❯ A Cry in the Dying Light ❯ The Other Side of Love pt1 ( Chapter 2 )

All MegaTen references, and characters, are copyright Atlus. Ii Hito is copyright Shin Takahashi, published by Shogakukan. Sola is copyright Naoki Hisaya. Other characters are copyright their respective owners, to be mentioned as they may occur. A Six-string Samurai Fanfiction. “A Cry in the Dying Light”

 

Though I would move the grave / my teary cry / was lost in the autumn wind.

-Matsuo BashÅ

Episode Two - The Other Side of Love (part 1)

January 1st, 2001. Tokyo, Japan

It was dark where she waited, left to dream a quiet dream. It was comfortable and warm, and most of all she wasn't lonely.

Yorito.

Her face was wet; a faint taste of salt. Tears then. But, she wasn't lonely, because she could see it, Yorito's beautiful sky. It was her last precious thing.

So the girl continued to sleep, safe where no one could hurt.

Be hurt.

Hurt her, anymore.

And that's when the light came, so soft, a blue that she imagined her own sky to be.

Time passed, and the dream couldn't last. Words were spoken, and the blue was allowed to spread to the waking world. It was all too soon, yet some voices said it wasn't soon enough. Regardless, she woke, the blue was calling. Her new sky beckoned, so bright!

For the third time the last Calamity of Night could once again open her eyes. It was a beautiful sight.

Matsuri yawned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Mmhm, Yorito, it's too early to get up.” The girl rolled over, pinching a good sized clump of her long violet tresses beneath her arm. “Ow! I'm getting up. You don't have to pull my hair, Yorito!”

She sat up, tossing the covers aside, blinking her eyes at the bright light. “Huh,” she squinted, puzzled. Things weren't quite adding up. Matsuri looked down at her `bed,' which happened to be a park bench, and the `blankets,' her hat and jacket. But that wasn't the problem. While her head was muddled, and it was hard to organize her thoughts, she knew one thing for certain in the core of her being. She could not be out in the sunlight. Had she been? Matsuri raised her dark eyes to the sky, and saw.

It was the blue from her dreams, a safe sky!

Where was Yorito? For some reason, all she could dredge up was a faint silhouette, thin and insubstantial. A dream of a dream. But, she couldn't find it in her to be sad. Gathering her coat and setting her hat just so on her head, she got up, dusting herself off. The blue star proved it. She didn't have to be alone anymore.

The girl's stomach chose that moment to announce its intentions to the world. Matsuri slumped, “So hungry...”

OoOoOoO

The youthful girl wandered the empty city streets, twirling her umbrella in the chilly night air. She didn't recognize any of the buildings, and there was no one around to ask for directions either. Not that she knew where she was headed. But, it might have been more convenient.

None of the stores she passed were open, and the one vending machine she'd happened upon had only served coffee. She didn't want coffee, she wanted juice, or soup. Maybe some noodles. Her hunger wasn't doing any wonders for her present mood, so it might be forgiven that she spoke sternly at the first people she finally ran into, literally.

She was rounding the corner of one of the skyscrapers, when she smacked right into someone, all but bowling the poor unfortunate over. Matsuri stumbled over the person she'd sent sprawling, almost impaling what turned out to be a petite young woman with the tip of her umbrella. She jumped back immediately, waving her arms. “Ah! I'm sorry!”

The short curly haired girl eventually righted herself, apparently just as contrite as she was, even if she still appeared a little distracted. Then Matsuri noticed the lady wasn't just by herself. There were four others trailing right behind her. They were all dressed up, but their clothes looked a bit rumpled. One of the women walked with a limp while the fourth was being carried between the tallest woman and a pudgy little man.

“Oh oh! You have to help us! Miwa's lost, and the Manager was bleeding everywhere! And there was an arm,” the woman Matsuri ran down had evidently gathered her wits enough to speak, but the violet haired girl couldn't make heads or tails of what she was saying.

“Ah,” Matsuri shifted her umbrella from hand to hand.

The tallest woman cut in, apparently speaking to the curly haired one. “Riho! Shut up already. You aren't making any sense, as usual.” The last was said under her breath, but Matsuri caught it just the same.

“Look, miss…”

“Shihou,” Matsuri supplied.

“Yes, Miss Shihou. As you can probably tell, our friend here is badly hurt, and we could use some help getting her to a hospital, or whatever's closest.” The tall brunette with her hair in a ponytail informed.

Matsuri took a closer look at the wounded woman. The front of her dress suit was in tatters, barely ample enough to cover her modestly. The remaining material was darkly stained, and the visible flesh beneath looked burned. At first she'd thought the woman was wearing a crumpled undergarment, but it was all charred flesh. “What happened?” concern filled the girl's voice.

“We…we're not sure,” the ponytail swished as the woman looked away for the briefest of moments. “It doesn't matter. She needs medical attention, maybe the police, too.”

“I'd like to help, if I can. But, I'm not too sure where we are at the moment. I, I got lost a little while ago.”

The older women looked at each other, and seemed to come to a decision. As before the tall woman spoke for the rest, “There's a police station nearby, and we're supposed to meet one of our friends there. If you're lost, I'm sure the police can help you find your way.” She paused, giving Matsuri and unreadable expression. “I don't know if you've seen anything weird around here, but it's not safe to be wandering around alone right now. We can all go to the station together, and everyone will be better off for it. Right?”

Matsuri crinkled her brow. She recalled more than a few times when the so called `public defenders' had run her out of house and home, or chased her off just for trying to feed herself. But, the one lady really looked bad off, and Matsuri wasn't feeling like her old self just yet. Maybe she could get some food in return for helping the ladies get to the police station. It beat aimlessly wandering around, that was certain.

“Okay, but let's hurry, she looks pretty bad.” Matsuri nodded to herself. Then realized what had been niggling at her since running into curly. “Did you all forget your shoes?”

Riho looked down and wiggled her toes self-consciously. “Maybe the cow ate them.”

Kanami made a strangled noise. “Riho, do us all a favor and don't talk from now on.”

“But, it might be true Miss Kanami.”

Matsuri gave up, leaning her umbrella across her shoulder. “We should really get going.”

No one argued with that.

OoOoOoO

In an alley not far from the local police station, a certain intoxicated OL peered out at the empty street from the shadows. There was no sign of that bull-headed monster, but she'd run across, or rather right past, several of its friends during her strategic retreat. Hell, even she knew it had been a panicked flight, but thinking of it as a retreat made here feel a little less like crap on someone's shoe.

Actually, the run had burned most of the inebriation right out of her, and she was likewise coming down from the adrenaline high. The fact of the matter was she'd left her friends behind and they could all be dead, or worse. Not that she knew what `worse,' was exactly, but she imagined it had to do with being eaten alive or having one's bones used as toothpicks.

It was crazy. Now that she knew what to look for, she was starting to see freaky creepy-crawlies all over the place. Thankfully, she hadn't seen any more big ones like the bull, but there were tons of the tiny ones: gross, purplish skinny things with fat, round little bellies scurrying about. A pumpkin-headed thing with a cape, and more than a few floating ghoulies. There was even one flying naked chick. Not that the rest of the monsters weren't naked, after a fashion.

Gods, she just wanted to go home, go to sleep and wake up to a terrible hangover. Even that would be better than having to sneak around all night, wondering when the next beast was going to chase after you, slavering for the sweet marrow in your bones.

Miwa sighed internally. She could see the police station just down the street, but it looked just as hopeless as the rest of the buildings. She hoped that the others were alive, and that they'd get here soon. Just sitting around waiting to be eaten wasn't the highlight of her new year.

OoOoOoO

“Alright, I though you said you knew where the police station was?” Kanami asked Jun for the second time.

“Yeah, I did, but I got all turned around when we started running. I haven't seen anything familiar for a while now. Remember, Riho and I live in Minato; Miss Manager was the one who knows the area around here best. Can't we stop and rest for a bit, my ankle is killing me. I think I sprained it.” Jun stopped to get a better look at her foot. “Look, it's all swollen, I think it turned purple, but I can't tell in this damn blue light.”

“Will you stop whining about your foot! Chie has a fucking hole in her chest, in case you forgot!” Kanami spat. She was tired and sore from walking barefoot, and the added weight of supporting her friend wasn't helping at all. Which reminded her, “Yamada, you're a man, so why the hell am I doing all the lifting?”

The pudgy salary man would've shrugged if he wasn't hunched over with more than half of Miss Nakaido's dead weight already. Besides, it wasn't smart to say anything when the ponytailed accountant was in one of her ranting moods.

“Not a word, remember Riho?”

The curly headed woman started to nod, but spoke anyway. She didn't like it when Jun got yelled at for being hurt. “I don't think it looks that bad, Miss Kanami.”

“What doesn't look that bad Riho?”

“The hole you said was in Miss Manager's chest. Look, her boob's not half gone like we thought,” Riho pointed out the obvious once again.

“What are you tal-,” Kanami twisted her head to look down at the mammary in question. “Holy shit. It doesn't look that bad does it? Hey, Jun make yourself useful and hold her up so I can get a better look.”

Jun grumbled and made a show of limping over, but did as Kanami asked.

Curious, Matsuri moved over to see what they were talking about. She hadn't really had the chance to see the wound in the first place, and from an earlier discussion, hadn't been all that fired up to get a personal look at what sounded like ground meat.

Once Jun had taken her position, Kanami swatted Yamada's face away. The man had certainly perked up at the mention of Chie's breasts. Fat pervert.

Indeed, Riho's observation was apparently correct. It didn't look that serious close up. In fact the burns looked superficial at best. Kanami wasn't the greatest judge on wounds, but Chie's chest sported a few burn blisters and some bruising and lacerations, but the gaping wound she expected to find was absent.

Actually, if anything, the dress was in worse shape than Chie herself. But then, where did the pool of blood they'd found her in come from? Was it all from the dog thing? It didn't make sense. And why was Chie still out cold?

That got Kanami riled up again. “Hey, Nakaido. Wake up. I'm not carrying your heavy ass all over town just so you can get your beauty rest.” Kanami was about to give the brunette a little wake me up tap on the cheek when Jun decided to cut in.

“It's great that she's not going to die on us anytime soon, but she's heavy, and my ankle is going to break if I have to keep this up much longer. But, now I see what you mean about Yamada not pulling his share of the work. How do you ever get anything done at the office?”

“Hey!”

“Yamada, I don't want to hear it out of you. I have to see your fat face every day. I don't need to hear fat words come out of it too.” Kanami dropped her hand and took the left side of Chie back from Jun.

Matsuri wondered if it was such a good idea to stick around with these office ladies after all.

Riho was just Riho.

OoOoOoO

The waking world was faint and far away from the mindscape of Nakaido Chie. She slept and dreamt of a less painful time. A time before monsters and track shoes, work and yearly bonuses, college degrees and high school diplomas. Even before playgrounds and yellow hats. She dreamed of her grandmother's house, and the days she spent there playing out in the sun all day. Having the time of her young life, in the fields and the forest, with her best friend in the whole world.

Chie smiled in recollection. She remembered the tiny stream they'd found in the woods, the one with the tadpoles and frogs the two of them liked to tease. And other times, when they'd play hide-and-seek, or just lay out on the hilltop and stare at the passing clouds.

Shirra was her best friend in the whole world, how could she have forgotten? Besides, who else could say they had a fox as a playmate back when they were a child? No one at the office that was for sure.

Chie sat in the grass at their favorite place, and waited for the fox to show. It had been a long time since the two had had a chance to meet and play. She couldn't wait. Overhead, the sun shone down brightly, just the right shade of blue.